I was making an edit to one of my comments and tried to save it, but was met with the "Comments may only be edited for 5 minutes".

I'm guessing I began the edit at the very end of the grace period, and tried to save it once it was over.

This presents a bad user experience. I started the edit less than 20 seconds ago, the "Save Edits" button is enabled, but clicking on the button gives me the message telling me that I'm not allowed to be doing what the system just allowed me to do.

Can the restriction take this in to account? Perhaps if the edit was started < 20 seconds before the end of the 5 minute grace period, it extends for another minute or two as long as the edit is in progress?

At the very least, the button could be disabled, or the message changed?

Even as it is, the message isn't really worded correctly. I don't know who could edit a comment for 5 minutes...

"not allowed to be doing what the system just allowed me to do" Well if this were true, then it would still be working as intended because that's what a timed feature is. But it's not true; the system didn't just allow you to edit a post outside of the edit timeframe, otherwise you wouldn't be having this problem.
– TylerHMar 1 '16 at 14:54

@TylerH, This is still bad UX. 1) the message isn't a complete thought, or if it is, then the message is incorrectly worded. I was not editing my comment for 5 minutes. 2) The "Save Edits" button is enabled, but Clicking on it gives me a message telling me I'm trying to do something that isn't allowed. At the very least the message could be worded better.
– CaptJakMar 1 '16 at 15:01

The message is a complete thought, you're just reading it incorrectly. "Comments may only be edited for 5 minutes" means as soon as you make a comment, a 5 minute timer starts, and once that timer expires, you cannot edit that comment anymore. It could be worded in a more verbose way, this is true, but the tradeoff would not be worth it.
– TylerHMar 1 '16 at 15:05

@TylerH, "You may row your boat for 5 minutes" does not mean the same thing as "You may row your boat for the first 5 minutes it is in the water", just as "Comments may only be edited for 5 minutes" does not mean the same as "You may only edit a comment within 5 minutes of it's original posting". Regardless, I say we just agree to disagree...
– CaptJakMar 1 '16 at 15:13

You're right, they don't necessarily always mean the same thing (though they can and usually do, of course), the system just expects you to make the logical jump from "you can only edit your question for 5 minutes" to "I posted this question about 5 minutes ago; it must have been longer than 5 minutes by now if I'm getting this error".
– TylerHMar 1 '16 at 15:19

1 Answer
1

Comments don't have revision history, we can't track changes in them. So I think that allowing a longer time can lead to situations where edits become out of context, unsynchronized and unrelated to other comments.

Allowing finishing the comment-edit if it was opened before 5 minutes have elapsed is problematic. What will the upper bound be? 6 minutes? 7 minutes? It's obvious that we can't just allow it forever as long as you haven't finished to make edit the comment.

I don't mean extend the grace period overall, just make it a bit longer if you are already editing it. 5 minutes is fine, I just thought it was odd that I couldn't save once I started.
– CaptJakFeb 28 '16 at 19:01

@isUserAGoat and what would be the upper bound? Could you just leave the editor open for another 5 minutes?
– MarounFeb 28 '16 at 19:02

Or 2 minutes. Whatever a reasonable time is. If it should take no longer than 2 minutes to make a comment edit, from start to finish, then extend it by 2 minutes.
– CaptJakFeb 28 '16 at 19:04

I didn't say allow it forever... In the question I said 5 minutes more, as long as the edit started. The point isn't so that one can leave it open forever, but so that he can finish if he started. It presents a bad UX.
– CaptJakFeb 28 '16 at 19:08

@isUserAGoat I still think that more than 5 minutes is too much. Please note that this is only my opinion, someone else might agree with you.
– MarounFeb 28 '16 at 19:10

That's OK, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't misunderstood.
– CaptJakFeb 28 '16 at 19:12